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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23676907">Coworkers, and Barely Even That</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaraHarkon/pseuds/TaraHarkon'>TaraHarkon</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Adventure Zone (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Arguing, Coworkers - Freeform, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, F/M, Lack of Communication, Passive-aggression, Slow Burn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 15:28:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,303</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23676907</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaraHarkon/pseuds/TaraHarkon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It was a two month mission. Barry and Lup could manage to get along for two months, right?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Barry Bluejeans/Lup</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The thing was, Barry Hallwinter was brilliant. He was one of those once in a generation prodigies when it came to the necromantic arts and the biological sciences. He was physics genius with a flare for planar theory. He was the truest form of polymath. And as far as Lup Travieso was concerned, he was an arrogant, self-righteous asshole stuck in his ivory tower who really needed to get smacked down a peg or two back into the real world where everyone else lived. </p>
<p>The problem was, Lup Travieso was brilliant. She was one of those once in a generation wizards who fought tooth and claw to learn everything she could get her hands on no matter how complex and she devoured any knowledge that was put in front of her. Transmutation, Evocation, Necromancy, it didn't matter, she could do it all and then some. Complex theory and even designing her own spells, finding ways to apply that theory and make it useful. And as far as Barry Hallwinter was concerned, she was a reckless, impulsive, disaster waiting to happen who really needed to understand that there was a reason the lab procedures the Institute had in place existed.</p>
<p>And Captain Davenport's problem was that they were both the best option for the Starblaster mission. And both of them together was the worst option for the Starblaster mission, but he needed as many top scientists and wizards as he could get. On top of that, Taako Travieso had point blank refused to join the mission if his sister wasn't on it. He'd even made some comments about sneaking her on board and just pretending there was only one of them. Frustratingly, the twins could probably even pull that off. Which meant there was no way he could avoid having Lup on the mission and he wasn't about to leave Barry behind. Davenport pinched the bridge of his nose. It was time to sit both of them down then. They only needed to get along for two months. If they couldn't handle that... Well, he would figure that out when it came to it. But hopefully they could both be adults about this.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Barry settled in his seat opposite the Captain's desk, his mind far, far away on the experiments he'd been working on back in his own lab. If he could just figure out the correct rotational velocity then- But then his train of thought was broken as the door slammed open again and Lup dropped into the empty seat beside him.</p>
<p>"Hope I'm not late, Cap'nport. Had to close up the hood I was using."</p>
<p>Before Barry could say a thing, Davenport set two folders down on the desk and folded his hands.</p>
<p>"You're fine, Lup. I hadn't gotten started yet." Then he tapped one of the folders. "First thing's first, I have every intention of putting both of you on this mission. But there are going to be conditions." He held each of their eyes for a long moment. "Doctor Hallwinter is going to be the Chief Science Officer so he's nominally in charge of the scientific aspects of this mission. However, the two of you are going to be doing the bulk of the scientific research. That means you're going to need to work together closely. Preferably without murdering each other or turning this into a morale issue for the rest of the crew. It's a two month mission. If you don't think you can pretend to get along for two whole months, then tell me now and I'll try and replace you. I would prefer not to have to, since you're both the best."</p>
<p>Silence hung in the air for a long moment before Barry and Lup both tried to speak at once, nothing actually audible. She shut her mouth, glaring at him with her ears flicked back and Barry sat a little straighter.</p>
<p>"Captain Davenport, I really think you should reconsider. We're talking about... about highly delicate instruments in an unknown environment and you're suggesting we very literally add an open flame to that equation. It seems ill advised. Not... not that I'm questioning you, just this particular decision."</p>
<p>Lup's ears were pressed tight against her head and it took every ounce of magical control she'd won over the years to not have flames forming in her hands. But Davenport just raised an eyebrow and looked at Barry.</p>
<p>"Are you requesting to be taken off the mission, Hallwinter?"</p>
<p>"N-no, Sir." Barry looked more like a child who was being denied a sweet than an esteemed scientist. "I... I was just suggesting that maybe uh..."</p>
<p>He trailed off, shoulders slumping slightly as he realized what was happening. Lup met Davenport's gaze steadily, her own displeasure visible on her face, but she shrugged a little.</p>
<p>"I'll figure it out, Cap. I'm not totally sure why you decided to put the fuss pot in charge other than seniority but I can deal." She glanced at Barry, lips twisting in a sardonic smile, before she looked back at Davenport. "After all, I'll still have Taako, right?"</p>
<p>Davenport visibly relaxed and settled back into his seat.</p>
<p>"You will. Primarily, he's going to be supporting the two of you with arcane research and study but he's also going to be handling our supply situation as necessary. Transmutation magic is unmatched for that purpose." Davenport tapped the folders again, watching them both carefully. "This is everything you should need to know going into the mission. You'll need to pack light and we'll have uniforms made for you both that should handle any protection that we're going to need out there. Make sure you read through all of that and let me know if you have any questions." He paused then, waiting half a beat before nodding. "Dismissed."</p>
<p>Lup grabbed up the folder with her name on it and shot Davenport a wry salute before turning to head for the door. Barry took his and flipped it open as he nodded once and turned for the door. Once he got out into the hall, he looked up at Lup and frowned.</p>
<p>"I still don't think this is a good idea but I'm not jeopardizing my chance at being a part of this. I assume you're going to do the same. So... for now, truce?"</p>
<p>Lup snorted a laugh but she held out her hand to shake on it.</p>
<p>"Sure, truce, my guy. No petty squabbles in space. Not when we're trapped in a tin can for two months." </p>
<p>They parted after that, each of them going back to their own labs to finish the experiments they currently had in the works so they could focus on preparations for the Starblaster mission. Everything else had to take a backseat to this. It was the most important thing the Institute had going, potentially the most important scientific or technical project their entire world was engaged in. </p>
<hr/>
<p>When Lup got home, she dropped the folder on the kitchen table and dropped into one of the chairs with a long suffering sigh before putting her head down with a thunk. Taako was already back and he turned from where he stood at the counter with a large chopping knife in his hand to look at her. His ears flicked with amusement and he went back to chopping onions.</p>
<p>"The fuck happened to you, Lu? Hallwinter on your case again? Or was it that other guy in your department, fuckin' Grimaldis or whatever?"</p>
<p>Lup waved that off without looking up.</p>
<p>"Got on the mission. But we're both stuck with Hallwinter. And Cap'nport put him in charge."</p>
<p>Taako set the knife down for a moment, ears flicking back. Having Lup on the mission was what he'd wanted but Hallwinter too? Both of them? In tight lab space with Hallwinter in charge? That was like throwing oil on a fire and hoping it would be able to do calculus. He rubbed his temples for a moment and then picked the knife back up, gesturing with it in between chopping.</p>
<p>"Alright, so they're making things tough for you. That's nothing new, right? Probably expecting you'll give up. So don't."</p>
<p>Lup made a grumbling sound into her arm and then sat up, leaning back in her chair.</p>
<p>"Easier said than done, Ko. I mean, I'm not gonna quit, that's for sure. I'm not about to give Nerd Alert the satisfaction. But dammit, if I don't strangle him during the mission, it'll be some kind of miracle."</p>
<p>She stood, pushing the chair back in, and moved to take the knife he passed her. There was garlic to mince still and he needed to clean the chicken if they were having dinner any time soon.</p>
<p>"Don't worry about it too much, dingus. If you do end up doing a murder, we can just push him out the airlock."</p>
<p>Lup snorted a laugh and hip checked her brother.</p>
<p>"As if, goofus. I'm pretty sure Cap'nport would get annoyed with us if we left his favorite nerd floating in space."</p>
<hr/>
<p>The press conference came and went and Barry wanted to scream. Not only did Lup undermine him in front of the entire world, leaving him stumbling instead of giving a clear explanation of the scientific and magical achievements that made up the Starblaster, she'd also used the opportunity to deal with some stupid bet with another one of their coworkers. Captain Davenport hadn't done a thing to stop it. If anything, he'd been amused. It left Barry with a lot of questions about how this mission was actually going to go. If she ruined this for him... If she ruined the biggest moment of his career, of his entire life, well... He would just have to make sure that didn't happen.</p>
<p>He stopped pacing his small apartment and went to put on the kettle for some tea. He had notes to review, a few equations left to work out before the launch, and he still needed to finish packing. Getting his clothes squared away hadn't been difficult. The real question was what else he was going to bring along. Two months wasn't a terribly long time but it was long enough that he would need something to keep himself occupied when he wasn't doing science. And to be able to have breaks. A few books tucked into his pack should do well enough for that. Maybe a puzzle too, just in case he needed his hands occupied but not so much his mind. Last but not least, he tucked a photo of him and his Ma in where it would be safe. Two months... Well, that was fine. He could handle two months.</p>
<p>Looking around his apartment, Barry added a big of sugar to his tea and went to stand by the window. Honestly, two months away would be good for him. And maybe in the constraints of the mission, he could finally get Lup to see reason. Or at least, he could hope. He could try. Maybe two months working in the lab on the ship would mean she was at least civil when they got back planetside. </p>
<p>Was this seriously what he was thinking about the night before launch? Barry closed his eyes for a long moment. Why was he wasting time thinking about her when he could be relaxing with his tea or thinking about how momentous all of this was? Or at least getting some sleep before it was go time. He drank the last of his tea down and looked out at the stars far overhead.</p>
<p>"I'm gonna be up there tomorrow. Maybe even beyond there. Who knows how far we're gonna go in two months. I can't wait."</p>
<p>He set the mug down on a table and headed towards his small bedroom. Tomorrow couldn't be there soon enough.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The storm hanging overhead was worrying to say the least. Barry kept watching it as they boarded the ship. He peered at it through the window of his quarters as he stowed his bag away. So far there were no signs of lightning, at least. Lightning stood a chance of grounding the mission and the last thing he wanted was for the anxiety rollercoaster that had been the last few days to be prolonged for any reason at all. Once his bag was tucked in the small room he'd been assigned, he headed back up towards the bridge. It would be the best place to get a good view of what was going on during the launch and he wanted to get a good look at the plane as they departed.</p>
<p>Then the Starblaster suddenly lurched and Barry stumbled, only barely catching himself from slamming into a wall. He could hear someone else down the hall yelling and he was pretty sure it was Magnus in his own room. Turning, Barry headed in that direction and found Magnus in the door of his room, leaning against the frame. He looked like he'd nearly been knocked off his feet too.</p>
<p>"You good, bud?"</p>
<p>Magnus grinned at him and shot a thumbs up.</p>
<p>"Yeah, you?" When Barry nodded, Magnus kept going. "Any idea what's going on? The mission briefing didn't say launch was supposed to be anything like that, right? If this had been a wagon or something, I'd think Cap'nport was making evasive maneuvers but there's nothing out there for us to dodge, right?"</p>
<p>Magnus glanced towards the window and then froze. Barry followed his gaze just in time to see a second inky black tendril of something shoot past the window and down towards the surface of the plane. Eyes wide, they looked at each other and turned to run for the bridge as fast as they could go. Whatever the hell was going on out there, it was bad.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Lup dropped onto one of the two beds in the small room, distantly relieved that their request for a shared room had been honored. There was a room designated on the maps of the ship as her bedroom, if she decided to move into her own quarters, but for now it was free real estate for storage. Among other things, she was told it housed a two month supply of Magnus' hard candy and a few extra canvases Lucretia had wanted so she could paint as well as write about the things they encountered.</p>
<p>Taako was unpacking his own things while she watched, carefully organizing the clothes in the small closet. They were expecting a small bump during launch, maybe a brief sense of vertigo, according to the briefings they'd all received. When the ship suddenly swung a tight turn, Lup was thrown off her bunk and Taako hit the wall inside the closet. Scrambling, Lup got to her feet and ran to the window. Moments later, Taako was at her side. </p>
<p>"Any idea what- Holy shit!"</p>
<p>Her question was answered before she could even finish getting it out and Taako grabbed Lup's arm as they both watched a mass of darkness crash past them and streak down towards the Institute. Davenport had pulled the ship into a steep climb and they were headed out of the plane as fast as they could go. Taako's grip on Lup's arm tightened and she leaned towards him, her own hand closing on the fabric of his jacket instinctively. Whatever the hell was happening, they weren't about to be separated by anyone or anything.</p>
<hr/>
<p>And then it happened. All over the ship, all at once, they were drawn out, stretched and separated into an endless series of themselves. There were hundreds of them. A hundred Lups, a hundred Taakos, a hundred Barrys, and so forth. Each of them were multiplied and stretched out into infinity in white threads. And then as suddenly as it had been, it was gone and it was as if it had never happened. The ship floated safely in space and seven pairs of eyes scanned the darkness around them for any sign of what the hell had just happened to them and to their world.</p>
<p>The crew gathered on the bridge, each of them trying to assimilate what had happened in their own way. The twins were unusually quiet. Lucretia seemed to have pulled in on herself and kept staring out the window. Magnus was shouting, saying they had to go back and do something. Barry found that he agreed. </p>
<p>"I agree. My primary concern is that if that thing is still between us and the institute, we don't know what it is or how to do with it and I'm not sure I can manage that kind of flying again."</p>
<p>In the end, it was agreed that they should turn the ship around and see. And they found themselves looking down at a plane devoid of that darkness, a plane returned to normal. Relief flooded all of them, but Lup was still quiet, her ears pinned back as she looked down at the surface and frowned slightly. Davenport raised an eyebrow at that but didn't ask as he reached for the comms to hail the planet.</p>
<p>"Institute, this is the Starblaster. Please come in. I say again, Institute, this is the Starblaster. Please come in."</p>
<p>Only static reached their ears as their communication equipment tried to find something to connect to and failed.</p>
<p>"Maybe the relay was knocked out by the attack?"</p>
<p>Magnus suggested it with a shrug.</p>
<p>"Maybe no one's listening."</p>
<p>That was Merle.</p>
<p>"Hey uh... I don't want to be an alarmist or anything," Lup spoke softly, one hand to the wall beside the window she was gazing out. "But those don't look like the continents I know. So that might have something to do with why they're not picking up the line."</p>
<p>Barry moved up beside her, a frown on his face as well.</p>
<p>"That's ridiculous, Lup. There's no way the continents could have..." His voice trailed off and his eyes widened slowly as he looked where she was looking. "Shit... Captain, it might be worth landing. I don't know if we are seeing different continents or not but... but either way, if the Institute isn't responding to hails, they might be in trouble. At the very least, we can help with that before we get back to the mission."</p>
<p>Davenport hesitated for a only a moment, looking at each face among his crew. Then he punched the throttle and pointed the nose of the ship down. </p>
<p>"Barry, Lup, I want as thorough a situation report as the two of you can manage on short notice. Merle, Magnus, get ready to disembark in case there are people out there who need help."</p>
<p>Lup nodded slightly and turned, running from where she stood next to her brother towards the lab. Barry was right behind her, already running through scenarios in his head. There were a few obvious possibilities. Electromagnetic or magical interference could certainly block their communication equipment. There were all sorts of spells that could do that. It was also possible it had been physically knocked out. But in order to actually alter the way the continents were appearing... It could be one of several spells to purely alter the physical surface of the plane, it could be a temporal displacement or... or it could be a different plane. </p>
<p>He shook his head as he took his position by one of the monitors, tapping away to set it to scan the atmosphere for content and disturbances automatically. It could also just be that they were looking at the continents from a height and distance they weren't used to. That could account for all sorts of things. They were also in a high stress situation and those could do all sorts of things. He knew personally the sort of havoc that stress could wrought on otherwise perfectly sensible people.</p>
<p>Lup was leaning in, studying her own monitor intently for a long moment. Then she got up and went to the window again, her ears pressed back and a frown on her face.</p>
<p>"Is it just me or is there only one sun?"</p>
<hr/>
<p>As it turned out, having a single sun was far from the strangest thing about this world with its lack of humanoids and apparent population of peaceful animals. And even that wasn't the strangest thing. The strangest by far was the moment a few nights after their arrival when Taako spotted something coming through the atmosphere. At first glance, it had looked like nothing more exciting than a particularly bright shooting star. And then he'd taken a look at the magical signature mostly out of idle curiosity and to see if it was even remotely comparable to what they had back home. </p>
<p>"It was the fuckin' Light, Dav." Taako gestured with the wooden spoon when he wasn't stirring the sauce on the stove. "I don't care how much that doesn't make sense, that's what it was. The magic was unmistakable."</p>
<p>Davenport leaned back in his seat, arms crossed over his chest as he tried to think it through. Lup was already sketching out something in the air, trying to work through a theory. Barry was frowning, his eyes on the window and the early morning view. Taako was right that it didn't make any sense. Although, the power of the Light of Creation was what had allowed them to get this far...</p>
<p>"I think it got caught in the wake of the Bond Engine, Cap." Lup spun her diagram suddenly, letting the rest of the crew see it. "Or it's tied up in the Bond Engine. One of those. Either way, I think it got tugged after us somehow."</p>
<p>Barry put one hand on the table and leaned forward, trying to look at the diagram. For the most part, it seemed to show waves through something that was labeled in Elvish he couldn't even begin to read that was maybe the Ethereal Plane? Not, of course, to imply that Barry wasn't perfectly capable of reading Elvish. But he'd learned it in an academic context and sometimes the twins just said or wrote things he'd never learned. It was yet another source of frustration.</p>
<p>"Are you trying to imply that the Starblaster in the Ethereal Plane is behaving like a boat in a lake? That's not even taking the barrier between planar systems into account. And you can't form a theory like this without some measurements. We haven't started analyzing anything yet. Let alone confirmed that Taako is even right. For all we know, this planar system has something else with a similar power level and it's not the Light of Creation at all."</p>
<p>The room went still then. Both twins stared at Barry, their ears pinned back in a way that boded no good at all, particularly not for Barry. Lup started to lean forward, her jaw clenched tight, and Davenport stood.</p>
<p>"All three of you, stop it. Hallwinter, it's a theory and that's all we've got right now. Lup, Taako, Barry is right and we do need to do a full analysis of what we've got before we can be sure of anything. And if the three of you can't act like adults, you will be confined to quarters." He paused then, looking between Barry and Lup for a long moment. "And if I have to restrict you to quarters, I can and will put <em>Magnus</em> in charge of the science for the rest of this mission. Do you understand me?"</p>
<p>The horror on Barry and Lup's faces was mirrored by the look on Magnus' face. The poor man looked like someone had just kicked the door down on his worst nightmare where he had no pants on and yelled 'Pop quiz!' at the top of their lungs while throwing a physics book at him. Davenport took in all of their expressions and then nodded, pushing his seat back from the table. He jumped down the short distance to the floor and started walking towards his station at the bridge. Then he looked back.</p>
<p>"Since we've decided to remember we're scientists on a mission, I want an analysis of the magical signature as soon as possible. Taako, when you're done there, come find me and we'll see if we can figure out the trajectory. If it was the Light, I want to know what happened to it."</p>
<p>Barry sighed and stood, stretching his lower back. Then he went to pour himself another cup of coffee. He looked over at Lup, watching her down the last of her own mug. She raised an eyebrow at him in question and set her mug down on the counter near the sink.</p>
<p>"See you in the lab, Hallwinter. Try not to completely forget that the scientific method requires some flexibility on your way, alright, my guy?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Alright, so it turns out, it was the Light of Creation and Taako was right. Are you happy now?"</p>
<p>Barry took a step back from the whiteboard that ran the length of one wall in the lab, looking over the equations one last time like he desperately hoped there would be a mistake there somewhere. Of course, there wasn't. Lup leaned across the workbench in the center of the room, skimming through the equations herself.</p>
<p>"Obviously." Her ears flicked slightly. "But we also still have no idea evidence for how it got here and we're not going to find shit in that wall of math. There isn't enough data to go off of. Which, I guess means we're going to have to figure out where the damn thing went."</p>
<p>Lup shrugged a little and closed her notebook.</p>
<p>"Taako and Dav are working on that. Which means I'm going back to making sure everything we've got here is goldilocks." She exhaled slowly. "Don't get me wrong, we can just conjure food if we have to. But no one can live on conjured food alone."</p>
<p>It was elementary magical theory, just the same as knowing you could live on Good Berries from time to time but not on just the magic berries and nothing else. And it wasn't a prospect Barry was looking forward to.</p>
<p>"I'll do the water analysis then..."</p>
<p>Lup nodded a little, watching as he settled into his work. She was distantly glad he hadn't protested the grunt work. Then again, in this case that grunt work was what was going to keep them all alive. It was also something to do, which was something they were all itching for. Idle time was time they could spend thinking about what had happened, about the darkness enveloping their world as it receded into the distance. </p>
<p>"I'll see what I can find for edible plant life. Might check in with Merle on that, see if he's got a back up if there's nothing out there."</p>
<p>That would also get her out of the ship for a little bit and out of the lab. That would only be good. Going to the door, she picked up a light pack with mobile testing equipment and checked through it to see she had. What she wasn't expecting was for Barry to get up to do the same. He looked at her uncertainly for a moment and then his mouth tightened.</p>
<p>"Can't really test the water from here, Travieso. I need samples.</p>
<p>She bristled slightly, ears flicking back.</p>
<p>"Right, of course. Probably shouldn't let you wander off alone anyway."</p>
<p>For a long moment, the two of them just stood there in the lab staring at each other. Then Barry hoisted his own pack onto his shoulder and pushed past her into the corridor.</p>
<p>"Just try not to start a forest fire."</p>
<p>Lup snorted a laugh, wondering if maybe Hallwinter had finally found where he kept his sense of humor.</p>
<p>"You say that like you think I've done it before."</p>
<p>Of course, then Barry had to go and completely ruin the moment by looking right at her, raising one eyebrow, and flatly responding to her joke.</p>
<p>"You mean you haven't? I'm honestly surprised."</p>
<hr/>
<p>The water was potable. There were quite a few edible plants right near where they'd landed, including a patch of berries big enough that Lup immediately gathered a few to test and see how they worked in a jelly sauce. Barry was taking magnetic and atmospheric readings. At the very least, it was a safe atmosphere for them to breathe and the magnetic readings seemed to imply a similar planetary structure to their homeworld. Honestly, the most unusual thing about the entire world seemed to be the lack of humanoids and the behavior of the animal species they found. At one point, Lup turned the corner around a rock outcropping to find a young mountain cat of some sort making small beeping, squeaking noises at an adult rabbit. It looked like play behavior at first, and she fully expected the rabbit to bolt in fear. What she wasn't expecting was for the rabbit to start squeaking right back.</p>
<p>With a glance back at Barry where he walked along completely immersed in the spell held in his hands, she sighed. Of course he hadn't noticed a thing with his head in the clouds. He really needed to learn to get down here and look at the actual world with the rest of them if he was going to learn anything actually interesting.</p>
<p>"Hallwinter," she hissed, trying to get his attention. "Come look at this. It's weird as shit."</p>
<p>Barry glanced up slightly, annoyance furrowing his brow as he walked up with no effort to move slowly at all. Lup pinched the bridge of her nose as both the mountain cat and rabbit looked up at them before bolting.</p>
<p>"So... there's rabbits? I mean, I guess that's good news since we can eat them but not exactly what I'd classify as 'weird as shit'." Then he gestured at the spell readout still hovering in his hand. "Have you looked at the way the leylines here look? The magical readout is fascinating and-"</p>
<p>"And until you stomp up, that rabbit was talking to the cat, which is pretty fuckin' weird as shit." Lup interrupted, her hands on her hips. "And it looked like talking. Not just vocalization, not just prey trying to scare a predator away. That was intelligent communication."</p>
<p>Barry looked at her for a long moment and then turned around to walk back towards the ship.</p>
<p>"Maybe I was wrong. Maybe there's something in the atmosphere that acts like an intoxicant in elven systems, because you're talking crazy."</p>
<p>Lup made a frustrated noise, throwing her hands in the air.</p>
<p>"Sometimes, I don't know why I even bother trying. It's not like you're ever going to turn around and surprise me by being a decent person who hasn't got his head jammed so far up his own ass he can see the sun shining."</p>
<p>With that, she turned and stalked in the opposite direction. If he didn't believe her, that was fine. She was going to go study the animals herself and she'd find proof that they were communicating intelligently, proof that even Barry Hallwinter would have to listen to.</p>
<hr/>
<p>That was easier said than done. But most things in life were, when you got down to it. At least she didn't have too hard a time tracking down a few more animals and they didn't seem to have the same fear of humanoids that the animals at home had. It really was like they had never encountered a humanoid creature before. After a while, she found a more or less comfortable spot where she could observe a small family of mongooses and pulled out a notebook. If she got something, maybe she could drag Taako out to the same spot tomorrow and get a little extra help on the observing front. Assuming that Hallwinter continued to be an ass, she was going to need all the help she could get. </p>
<p>A younger mongoose moved closer to her, tilting its head to the side before it started to chitter at her. Then it waited, just staring. Her ears flicked slightly and she set her notebook in the grass.</p>
<p>"Sorry, little man, I don't understand why you're trying to say."</p>
<p>The small creature spun a tight circle and chittered more before running back to the rest of the family. There was definitely a wide variation in the sounds they could produce, more than she would expect even. Maybe a little linguistic analysis was called for, assuming she could even pick out all of their phonemes. And that was assuming that the language didn't involve other senses that she wouldn't be able to process or sounds that were outside the elven hearing range. And then there were the body language aspects of it. Lup exhaled slowly. Either way, she was going to need a place to start and figuring out the basic sounds was going to be the best place no matter what else she learned along the way. Picking her notebook up, she flipped to a new page and starting trying to describe and catalogue the squeaks and chitters she was hearing.</p>
<p>When she finally got up to head back to the ship, she had pages full of notes and diagrams and a few sketches of the funny poses the little creatures made as they were conversing. They had a lot to say, though what about she still wasn't sure. She'd even shared some of her granola bars with them, much to the excitement of one youngster who had then tried to crawl into her backpack to find more. In fact, she'd had to empty the bag out before heading back to the ship, just to make sure she didn't have any stowaways. </p>
<p>Returning to the ship, she dropped her backpack on the floor in the galley and slid into a seat at the table. Based on the smells, her brother had already started dinner. That was good, she was starving. She flipped her notebook open and started going through it, going back through her notes to organize them better. Step one would be establishing the phoneme set she was working with, then from there she could start figuring out the actual construction of words. After a few minutes, Taako slid in beside her with an apple in his hand and started reading through her notes over her shoulder. One eyebrow raised, he took a bite of his apple, chewing it in silence. When he finally swallowed, he tapped the sketch of one mongoose standing on a rock with its head raised and mouth open.</p>
<p>"Cute rat." Then he looked at her, ears flicked back. "Hallwinter's saying he thinks you're cracking under the pressure. What the fuck happened out there?"</p>
<p>Lup's ears flicked back and she turned on her brother.</p>
<p>"He said <em>what</em>?" She snapped the last word, fury palpable in her voice. "Just because he doesn't know how to observe the real world and can't pull his head out of his ass for thirty seconds does <em>not</em> mean that I'm... I'm..." She jabbed her notes hard. "The animals <em>are</em> talking to each other in a coherent, intelligible language. And not just within species. Prey animals are talking to predators like its nothing. And I have no idea what that means, but it means something. And maybe they can tell us what happened to the Light. But we're not gonna learn shit if Hallwinter can't climb down from his ivory fucking tower to join the rest of us in real science land."</p>
<p>She was gesturing broadly by the end of her rant, and she was distantly proud of herself for the fact that nothing was on fire or even smoking. She wasn't even smoldering a bit. Really, it was phenomenal control considering how she felt right now. And what was worse was she couldn't bring this up to Davenport. He would just threaten the both of them with turning the lab over to Magnus again and tell them to sort out their shit, which meant she had some sorting to do and she was going to need to get more proof.</p>
<p>"Hey Ko, wanna come hang out in mongoose land with me tomorrow?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Strictly speaking, Taako did not want to come hang out in mongoose land as his twin had so blithely put it. But he also wasn't about to let Lup go wander off into this strange plane alone again, especially given that apparently Hallwinter had decided that leaving her alone in the woods trying to talk to animals when she didn't have so much as a sneeze of druid magic was a good idea. So he'd packed his backpack with some notebooks, extra spell components, and sandwiches. Then for good measure, he'd chucked a bag of peanuts in. Sure, he and Lup couldn't eat the stupid things and he probably shouldn't even touch them, but odds were the mongooses (mongeese?) would probably like them. He figured they were probably not all that different from squirrels. </p>
<p>Soon enough, they had found the same clearing where she'd found the den and Taako had settled with his back to a tree to munch on a sandwich and take some cursory notes on animal behavior or whatever. Then the young mongoose came running over and sniffed at his bag curiously. Taako snorted a laugh and pulled the bag of peanuts out, scattering some on the ground.</p>
<p>"I'll give you this, Lu, even if they can't talk, this one's pretty smart."</p>
<p>Lup rolled her eyes and reached for one of the sandwiches in her own bag, throwing it at her brother without unwrapping it first. He was so distracted by the mongoose rooting around in the pile of peanuts that it hit him square in the side of the head. A moment later, both of them had dissolved into gales of laughter. When Taako could finally breathe again, he wiped his eyes and leaned back against his tree.</p>
<p>"Alright, alright. I'll stop giving you shit. Just run me through the phonemes again and let's see what we can't figure out."</p>
<hr/>
<p>By the end of the week, they'd figured out their first word. It wasn't even all that surprising that the first word they pieced together was 'food'. What was surprising was how quickly the other words started to fall into place after that. Pretty soon they had a small lexicon and it was time to show their results to someone else. </p>
<p>Lup held the notebook she and Taako had compiled their notes in tightly and walked into the lab. Hallwinter was sitting at one of the work benches, going over his analysis of the Light's trajectory as calculated by Davenport for what was probably the twelfth time at least. If he was getting anything new out of the data, Lup had no idea what it could possibly be.</p>
<p>"Hey, Hallwinter. I've got something you need to look at."</p>
<p>Barry looked up from where he was sitting and adjusted his glasses, setting the papers he was working on down for the time being. </p>
<p>"Is this more about your talking animals?"</p>
<p>She could practically hear the condescension and that was what finally did it. Lup slammed her notes onto the table in front of him and turned to storm out of the room.</p>
<p>"Read it. Don't read it. I don't fucking care anymore."</p>
<hr/>
<p>That had never happened before. Being perfectly honest, Barry wasn't entirely sure what to do next. Sure, they'd fought, they'd sniped at each other over the years. This was new. And maybe it was just a result of the stress, the lack of available socialization that wasn't the same people they saw day in and day out. Still, it was no reason for her to act like this and no reason to completely ignore it every time he tried to bring up the magical readings of the plane . They were astounding, like nothing he'd ever seen before. It was strong, it was... it was... Well, the thing was that it wasn't untouched and it had a clear focal center that wasn't the Light of Creation, as far as he could tell. And a focal center of power like that could only imply a few things one of which was a sentient lifeform to be using the magic. At least, that was the going theory in half a dozen academic circles back home.</p>
<p>He felt his throat go tight as he remembered that he wouldn't be bringing the research back to them. Because they weren't there to go back to. They weren't there, his students were there, his Ma wasn't... Their whole damn world was just--</p>
<p>Grabbing her notes as the first thing close to hand, he started reading through them. Odds were, she was just grasping at straws for any sort of intelligence, for something that would make this whole damn world feel less empty. For something, anything, that could soften the blow of-- </p>
<p>Really, the phoneme sets were fascinating. And with the diagrams included like they were, he could go through and mimic the sounds, piecing together the words that Lup had written out here. Really, if it wasn't for the fact that she was saying it was animals producing all of these words then it would all make sense. It was even logical. Skimming through it again, he found himself making the little clicks and chirps along with what he was reading. It was funny to hear, almost like listening to the sounds his Ma would make talking to the crows and the ravens in the yard and--</p>
<p>And maybe he should just take this out to the woods and run it through some secondary testing, peer review, whatever. Standing, he grabbed his already packed bag and threw his robe on to head out into the forest. According to the notes he clutched in his hand perhaps just a little too much like a lifeline, the mongoose family shouldn't be too terribly hard to find. On the way, he stopped by the kitchen without saying a word to Taako where he sat with a book and grabbed a few granola bars. They weren't the peanut sort, but hopefully they would do as well. </p>
<p>The thing was, Barry Hallwinter didn't much like being alone. The forest was full sounds and he had no idea what most of them were. The snap of a twig somewhere behind him could have been just about anything and his nerves were tightly wound as he made his way along the forest floor. Soon, though, he found the small rock outcropping that Lup had marked on her map. Pausing there, he skimmed through her notes one more time, trying to find the sound she'd indicated she believed was a greeting.</p>
<p>Barry stepped around the rocks before he made the trill-click noise. He didn't expect anything to happen. He certainly didn't expect a dozen little furry heads to pop up and make the same sound in response. And he certainly didn't expect theirs to have the clear tone of a question. Hands shaking, he fumbled through her notes until he found the word for 'food' and tried it. This one was a modulating series of clicks and he wasn't entirely certain he'd done it right at first. Then one of them darted forward, sniffing curiously around him. It repeated the sound and kept going, saying things far faster than he could keep up with as he tried to follow along with her notes. </p>
<p>All he could do after that was sit and unwrap granola bars for the creatures, feeding them as he tried other words and tried to add to her notes. And for the first time since they'd headed out on the mission, he was smiling. They were talking. The animals here were talking. Lup was right. Alright, yes, her methodology was still slapdash and this barely qualified as scientifically rigorous. But she was right and he couldn't deny that. Which meant he had to figure out how to talk to her if they were going to make any progress on this. Fantastic. She was probably just going to call him an... an ivory tower asshole or something again and refuse to collaborate. That was how it usually went back at the Institute, anyway. That's why he was forever telling his students that--</p>
<p>Gods... what had even happened to his students? Had any of them survived that... that thing? That moving darkness that had apparently consumed their world and left them here, wherever here was. Had anyone been able to survive that? And had it only targeted the Prime Material plane? Or had the other planes also fallen to darkness? Had the Astral Plane...?</p>
<p>He didn't even realize there were tears on his cheeks until the mongoose that had climbed into his lap made an inquisitive concerned sound.</p>
<p>"S-sorry, buddy. I don't know that one." Taking a deep breath, he tried to control the quiver in his voice. "Here, lemme check the... the notes."</p>
<p>It wasn't in Lup's little dictionary either so he did his best to copy out what the creature had said and put a question mark next to it. He could always figure it out another time, sometime when his head wasn't swimming with the faces of people he would probably never see again.</p>
<hr/>
<p>A few hours later, Barry was making his way back to the Starblaster with a whole notebook full of his own notes and observations. He'd even spent a while standing in a clearing trying to repeat the crow calls he'd learned as a child and never had much use for as an adult. The crow that responded had given him a strange look before starting to communicate in what was apparently the same language the mongoose family was speaking. Impossible as it seemed, all of the animals on this plane had one cohesive language. Which meant they had a solution to finding the light. </p>
<p>Of course, he was still going to need to broach the topic with Lup again. And there was a lot more work to do on translation if they were going to be able to ask questions of their own beyond 'do you want food?'. That and after their last conversation, he was pretty sure Lup was never going to want to talk to him again. Which, normally would be fine, good riddance to half a dozen lab safety violations he could do without. Right now, though, that was the last thing he needed. They needed to stick together no matter what happened, not fracture at the first sign of problems. Maybe if they got the Light, they could find a way home or a way to at least go somewhere that had people. </p>
<p>He paused by a small pond and looked out over the still waters, wondering idly if the fish could speak as well. Was there anything on this world that couldn't communicate? How long had they been like this? Did it upset the divisions between predators and prey? Or were they all herbivores? How would that affect the species that were typically predators? Would there be overpopulation in species like rabbits and deer? What sort of leadership would there be? </p>
<p>Would they have even cared enough about the Light to make note of its landing? There was no way of knowing, not until they figured all of this out. Why couldn't the solution have fallen into one of the disciplines he was comfortable in? Physics, arcana, he'd even take chemistry over one of the social sciences. His Ma would've been great at all this and here he was, falling apart.</p>
<p>Picking up a small stone, he checked it over. It was flat enough, he decided, and he skipped it across the surface of the water, watching it sink after a few seconds. Would she be disappointed, he wondered? If his Ma could have seen him now, would she be disappointed by what she saw or would she still be as proud of him as she'd ever been? What hurt most is that now, for the first time in his life, he wasn't sure.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"We need to talk about your research."</p>
<p>If there was a worse way for a conversation to start, Lup had absolutely no idea what it was. That sentence ran through her worst nightmares and played havoc with the confidence she had rightly earned alongside her degree. When it was said by someone who was nominally in charge, it sent anxiety charging through her blood and left her feeling cold and angry.</p>
<p>So when Barry Hallwinter walked into the kitchen holding the notebook she'd thrown at him and those were the words that came out of his mouth, she felt like she would be pretty well within her rights to throw him out. There was something though, something that stopped her from doing it. Whatever that something was, though, she wasn't sure. It certainly was not the boyish look of glee lighting up his face like it was Candlenights.</p>
<p>Instead, she leaned against the counter between him and her and raised an eyebrow, ears flicked back.</p>
<p>"Want to try that one again?"</p>
<p>Something flickered across his face before he held the notebook out again.</p>
<p>"I went out there and I tried it. I found the mongoose you mentioned and... and I talked to it. I added some notes of my own, trying to work through the words you didn't already have written down. But either way, I think we need to set up an expedition and go back out there to do some follow-up research and-- Lup, I think they might be able to tell us where the Light is if we can figure out how to ask."</p>
<p>That rocked Lup back on her heels. What Barry was saying made sense but it was also entirely at odds with everything else he'd said to her about the talking animals. Now, it was entirely possible that he'd decided to actually pull his head out of his ass and go check out what she and Taako had been working on. It was just hard to believe that Mister Ivory Tower of Academia had decided to come down to where the common people lived.</p>
<p>She could say something, argue, protest that he should have listened to her sooner. Instead, her ears flicked slightly and she reached for her notebook. Skimming through his additions, she nodded slightly.</p>
<p>"It's going to take us a while to piece together a whole language. I'll let Taako know we're starting in the morning."</p>
<p>And then like that, there was nothing else to talk about. Lup turned back to the pot on the stove, checking to make sure the sauce was thickening as it should, and went quiet. She could hear Barry still standing there for a long moment and then she heard his footsteps retreating in the direction of the lab. Tomorrow, then. Hopefully, Taako would be willing to come along as a buffer otherwise she might just kill the man.</p>
<hr/>
<p><br/>Taako shoved one last sandwich into the basket he'd packed before he pull his backpack on and looked over at his twin. Lup was all nervous energy, like someone had stuck a live wire under her pillow all night. He couldn't fathom why. They were going to spend a whole day with their least favorite human studying a bunch of really smart mongeese. Sure, the mongeese were cool enough but he could really do without Hallwinter. Especially if he and Lup were just going to spend the whole day fighting. Again. Really, he should get a medal or some shit just for having to deal with both of them when they got like that.</p>
<p>Lup was already ready and waiting outside with her own pack on her shoulders as she went through her notes from before. Barry had a complete copy that he was going through and adding notes to from the day before. Taako looked between them for a long moment, trying to decide if this boded good or ill. Then he sighed and started walking towards the forest.</p>
<p>"Come on, let's go to fuckin' science town already."</p>
<hr/>
<p>The hike out to where the mongoose family lived wasn't all that bad, although most of that was because it was blessedly silent. Lup was still flipping through her notes and Barry was so utterly lost in his own thoughts that nothing external seemed to matter. Taako just hoped that the somewhat tense silence stayed just that: silent. If they could go the entire day without a murder, it would be fucking rad.</p>
<p>Soon enough, they arrived at the small clearing where they'd found the mongeese and Taako raised a hand and chirp-trilled in greeting. One of them immediately ran out, running circles around Taako as it excitedly welcomed him back. Smart little dudes even knew which one of them was carrying the extra sandwiches.</p>
<p>"So," Lup started, considering. "Split up and work on getting new vocab sorted out. Meet back in an hour and update."</p>
<p>Barry nodded slowly, seeming somehow distracted still.</p>
<p>"That should keep our data from getting contaminated. Sounds good to me."</p>
<p>They split up and Taako settled right there in a soft patch of grass with his own notebook in hand. Looking at the mongoose that sat beside him, he grinned.</p>
<p>"Okay, my guy. Let's see if you can handle a pop quiz."</p>
<hr/>
<p>It worked surprisingly well, all things considered. When they met back up in an hour, they had the starts of a very real lexicon for this animal language and they were starting to get way, way beyond the basic questions of "hey, you hungry?" and "where's the food?". Lup had even managed to get into less tangible topics of conversation. Or at least she was pretty sure she had. Things like time and the future, the concept that it wouldn't always be exactly like it was now and that it had been different in the past. She'd also managed to get out of them that they'd never seen or heard of anything like the members of the IPRE crew. As far as this family of mongeese was concerned, at the very least, this plane had never hosted any sort of humanoid lifeforms.</p>
<p>If it hadn't been so immediately terrifying, Barry probably would have found that idea fascinating. The idea of an entirely animal populous that had achieved peace and harmony? There was something deeply philosophical in that, something that he was quite certain a few of his colleagues back at the Institute who fancied themselves more religiously bent would have found worth discussion.</p>
<p>But it was that immediate and that terrifying. They were truly alone here. Just seven stranded souls on a plane not made for their kind.</p>
<p>After another week, they knew where the Light of Creation had gone. They learned about the Great Beasts, the rulers of animal kind, and they learned how to get there. The entire crew traveled together for something as important as this, meaning that Lup and Barry could go back to quiet animosity rather than strained cooperation. And on the whole, that was fine by both of them. There was still research to be done, still questions they each wanted answers to.</p>
<p>The rest was largely uneventful for both of them. It wasn't like they were the ones training with the Power Bear, learning to prove that they could protect the Light. No, that lot fell to Magnus. All they had to do for the rest of the year was live it.</p>
<p>Everything changed the day the Great Beasts called for them again, when the color drained from the world in a way that was far, far too familiar just before the first column of darkness slammed down through the atmosphere. And the crew of the Starblaster did the only thing they could do. They ran.</p>
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